-Caveat Lector-
RACHEL'S ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH WEEKLY #635
---January 28, 1999---
PARKINSON'S [and Toxic Chemicals in Babies]
Parkinson's disease strikes 60,000 people each year in the U.S.
More than a million Americans are living with the disease at any
one time.[1] More people suffer from Parkinson's than from
multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy and amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease) combined.
Parkinson's is a progressive brain disorder that is almost
always fatal, but the suffering can go on for years. The disease
usually strikes people over age 60, but a few people get it
before they reach 40.
Parkinson's begins when a certain class of brain cells begins to
die, cells that produce a chemical called dopamine, which your
body needs. Dopamine serves as a chemical messenger helping to
control muscle activities. Loss of dopamine leads to the pro-
gressive loss of muscular control, giving rise to a variety of
symptoms: stiffness, tremor, slow movement, difficulty with
balance, difficulty walking, a stooped-over, shuffling gait. As
the disease progresses, the patient may develop difficulty
speaking, symptoms of senility (dementia) similar to Alz-
heimer's, and severe depression.
In recent years, an effective medication, levodopa (known as
L-dopa), has relieved many of the symptoms of Parkinson's for
many patients, at least for a period of time. In addition,
transplanting dopamine-producing brain cells from dead fetuses
into the brains of Parkinson's sufferers has delayed the
progression of the disease in some cases. Nevertheless,
Parkinson's remains a common but poorly-understood terminal
disease.
The causes of Parkinson's disease have been debated for 150
years, with no resolution.
A breakthrough occurred in the early 1980s when a group of young
people developed the symptoms of Parkinson's disease after
taking an illegal drug called MPTP, which is similar to the
narcotic pain killer meperidine (which is sold under the trade
name Demerol).[2] MPTP is also similar in chemical structure to
several pesticides and herbicides.
Subsequently, symptoms of Parkinson's were induced in monkeys by
feeding them MPTP.[3] This led the medical community to begin
thinking of Parkinson's as a disease caused by chemical
exposures. Early studies began to show a pattern: many people
with Parkinson's have a history of exposure to pesticides,
especially insecticides and herbicides.[4-7]
However in the early 1990s, Parkinson's was linked to a gene in
a few Italian and Greek families,[8] and this sent researchers
down the genetic trail in search of the cause of Parkinson's.
Genetic causes of disease are very fashionable at the moment and
it is easier to find research funds to study genes than it is to
find research funds to study the effects of pesticides.
This week the likelihood of a genetic cause for most Parkinson's
disease was effectively ruled out by the publication of a study
of nearly 20,000 twins.[9] The study cohort, made up of white
male twins who served in World War II, was developed by the
National Academy of Sciences 35 years ago. Most of the members
of the study cohort are now in their mid-60s, so they have
reached the age when Parkinson's begins to appear. Of the 20,000
twins studied, 193 individuals were confirmed to have
Parkinson's. The study showed that identical twins do not get
Parkinson's any more often than two unrelated individuals. If
the disease had a genetic origin, then identical twins, who
share every gene, would both be expected to get the disease.
This does not happen, the new study shows.
The researchers reported that, "No genetic component is evident
when the disease begins after age 50 years. However, genetic
factors appear to be important when [Parkinson's] disease begins
at or before age 50." Thus fewer then 10% of Parkinson's cases
-- only those that begin relatively early in life -- have a
genetic component.
That leaves environmental chemicals as the culprit for the vast
majority of Parkinson's, according to the researchers who
conducted the twin study. In announcing their results, they
specifically pointed out that the search for causes of
Parkinson's should now re-focus on environmental chemicals such
as pesticides and herbicides.[10]
The twin study should provide comfort to family members of
Parkinson's victims who have been fearful about their own future
based on their genetic relationship to the victim.
However, the new study provides cause for concern among farmers,
pesticide applicators, and people who live in farming
communities where regular exposure to pesticides is unavoidable.
Since the late 1980s, a steady stream of studies from around the
world has shown again and again that a common thread among
victims of Parkinson's is a history of exposure to insecticides
and herbicides.[4-7,11-15] Most recently a study showed that
exposure to industrial solvents is linked to Parkinson's.[16]
THE NEED FOR CIVIC ACTION
by Gary Cohen[17] and Nancy Evans[18]
Many years have passed since the drinking water wells in Woburn,
Massachusetts were contaminated.
In one sense, the tragedy stands as a singular event in the
history of our nation. In an average middle class town, seven
children died from leukemia due to toxic chemicals in their
drinking water. Lives forever lost. A community forever scarred.
A story captured in Jonathan Harr's powerful book, CIVIL
ACTION,[19] and now released as a major Hollywood movie.
In another sense, however, Woburn has become a familiar script
that reads something like this: Multi-billion dollar company
poisons community. People get sick and die. Corporation denies
the problem as long as possible, using its money to outlast
desperate families seeking justice. When loss of the court case
looks likely, corporation settles for an undisclosed sum in
exchange for silence and a waiver of future liability.
This script has been repeated over the years in Love Canal,
Bhopal, and in the bodies of DES daughters. Corporation names
differ, but the outcomes are similar. Human lives are just the
cost of doing business. The world goes on. After the damage is
done, corporations crank up their public relations machines to
project an image in which they bring "good things to life."
Eventually the horror fades, replaced by images of horrors from
other places.
But what gets lost in the public's consciousness is the ubiquity
of the chemical assault in communities across the country. There
are hundreds of Woburns in the United States, where communities
living next to chemical companies, paper mills, computer
manufacturers, military bases, medical waste incinerators, and
toxic dumps suffer an array of health problems related to their
toxic exposures. When residents seek some kind of justice from
these exposures, they are stymied by a compromised regulatory
system that regularly protects corporate interests rather than
public health. Contrary to conservatives' mantra, the problem is
not too much government. The problem is government too much
serving the needs of industry.
The public health crisis extends well beyond individual
communities and their polluting corporate neighbors. The reality
is no place escapes this toxic nightmare. These facts highlight
the problem:
* There are fish consumption bans in 40 states due to mercury
contamination. In its latest report to Congress, the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency warned that 1.6 million children
and women are at risk of mercury poisoning from even modest
consumption of fish. (See REHW #597.)
* High levels of dioxin in breast milk mean that newborns get
80 times their lifetime "safe" dose of dioxin during their first
six months of life. In June, 1998, CONSUMER REPORTS published
test results that showed all the major baby food brands had
alarming levels of dioxin in meat-based products.[20] Dioxin is
an identified human carcinogen, known to disrupt the hormonal
system of the growing child.[21] (See REHW #390, #391, #414,
#463.)
* According to a National Academy of Sciences report, 70
pesticides that cause cancer in animals are allowed in
commercial foods, as are 20 other chemicals considered probable
human carcinogens.[22] Other pesticides permitted in food are
known to interfere with the nervous system, the immune system or
the reproduction system.[23] (See REHW #481, #493.)
Children are the most vulnerable to this toxic assault since
their rapidly developing systems are more sensitive to these
chemicals.[22,23] Cancer now kills more children under fourteen
than any other disease. (See REHW #559, #588.)
We all live in Woburn. As a society, we are conducting an
uncontrolled chemical experiment on our children and future
generations. While the chemical industry continues to tout the
safety of its products, every child born in this country harbors
a host of toxic chemicals in his/her body. This is a profound
violation of basic human rights and the sanctity of life.
We don't need more Woburns to convince us we have a problem with
toxic chemicals and a regulatory and justice system that offers
neither effective regulation nor justice. We simply need the
political will to directly challenge the polluting companies and
the government agencies that protect them. Without such civic
action, Woburn will be a never-ending story.
==========
[1] See http://neuro-chief-e.mgh.harvard.edu/parkinsonsweb/Main/-
IntroPD/Intro.html (omit the hyphen at the end of the first line,
above.).
[2] J.W. Langston and others, "Chronic Parkinsonism in humans
due to a product of meperidine-analog synthesis," SCIENCE Vol.
219, No. 4587 (February 25, 1983), pgs. 979-980.
[3] R.S. Burns and others, "The neurotoxicity of
1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine in the monkey and
man," CANADIAN JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGICAL SCIENCE Vol. 11
(Supplement 1) (February 1984), pgs. 166-168. And see J.W.
Langston and P.A. Ballard, Jr., "Parkinson's disease in a
chemist working with 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyri-
dine," NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE Vol. 309, No. 5 (August
4, 1984), pg. 310.
[4] S.C. Ho and others, "Epidemiologic study of Parkinson's
disease in Hong Kong," NEUROLOGY Vol. 39, No. 10 (October 1989),
pgs. 1314-1318.
[5] C. Hertzman and others, "Parkinson's disease: a case-control
study of occupational and environmental risk factors," AMERICAN
JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE Vol. 17, No. 3 (1990), pgs.
349-355.
[6] G.P. Sechi, "Acute and persistent parkinsonism after use of
diquat," NEUROLOGY Vol. 42, No. 1 (January 1992), pgs. 261-263.
[7] K.M. Semchuk and others, "Parkinson's disease and exposure
to agricultural work and pesticide chemicals," NEUROLOGY Vol.
42, No. 7 (July 1992), pgs. 1328-1335.
[8] Mihael H. Polymeropoulos and others, "Mutation in the
alpha-Synuclein Gene Identified in Families with Parkinson's
Disease," Science Vol. 276, No. 5321 (June 27, 1997), pgs.
2045-2047.
[9] Caroline M. Tanner and others, "Parkinson's Disease in
Twins," JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION Vol. 281,
No. 4 (January 27, 1999), pgs. 341-346.
[10] Thomas H. Maugh II, "Chemicals Called Main Cause of
Parkinson's," LOS ANGELES TIMES January 27, 1999, pg. unknown.
See http://www.latimes.com/HOME/NEWS/SCIENCE/ENVIRON/-
t000008230.html (omit the hyphen) .
[11] K.M. Semchuk and others, "Parkinson's Disease: a test of
the multifactorial etiologic hypothesis," NEUROLOGY Vol. 43, No.
6 (June 1993), pgs. 1173-1180.
[12] J.P. Hubble, "Risk Factors for Parkinson's Disease,"
NEUROLOGY Vol. 43, No. 9 (September 1993), pgs. 1693-1697.
[13] A. Seidler and others, "Possible environmental,
occupational and other etiologic factors for Parkinson's
disease: a case-control study in germany," NEUROLOGY Vol. 46,
No. 5 (May 1996), pgs. 1275-1284.
[14] H.H. Liou and others, "Environmental risk factors and
Parkinson's disease: a case-control study in Taiwan," NEUROLOGY
Vol. 48, No. 6 (June 1997), pgs. 1583-1588.
[15] J.M. Gorell, "The risk of Parkinson's disease with exposure
to pesticides, farming, well water, and rural living," NEUROLOGY
Vol. 50, No. 5 (May 1998), pgs. 1346-1350.
[16] A. Smargiassi and others, "A case-control study of
occupational and environmental risk factors for Parkinson's
disease in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy," NEUROTOXICOLOGY
Vol. 19, Nos. 4-5 (August-October 1998), pgs. 709-712.
[17] Gary Cohen is the National Co-Coordinator of Health Care
Without Harm, an international coalition working to reform the
environmental practices of the healthcare industry. He is based
in Boston. E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[18] Nancy Evans is the Executive Vice President of the Breast
Cancer Fund, San Francisco.
[19] Jonathan Harr, A CIVIL ACTION (New York: Vintage Books,
1996). ISBN 0679772677.
[20] "Hormone mimics hit home," CONSUMER REPORTS (June, 1998),
pg. 53.
[21] Douglas B. McGregor and others, "An IARC Evaluation of
Polychlorinated Dibenzo-p-dioxins and Polychlorinated
Dibenzofurans as Risk Factors in Human Carcinogenesis,"
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES Vol. 106, Supplement 2 (April
1998), pgs. 755-760.
[22] Philip J. Landrigan and others, PESTICIDES IN THE DIETS OF
INFANTS AND CHILDREN (Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press,
1993). ISBN 0-309-04875-3.
[23] John Wargo, OUR CHILDREN'S TOXIC LEGACY; HOW SCIENCE AND
LAW FAIL TO PROTECT US FROM PESTICIDES (New haven, Connecticut:
Yale University Press, 1996). ISBN 0-300-06686-4.
Descriptor terms: parkinson's disease; neurological disorders;
morbidity statistics; dopamine; levodopa; l-dopa; genetic causes
of disease; pesticides; insecticides; herbicides; rural life;
drinking water; woburn, ma;
################################################################
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=======================Electronic Edition========================
. .
. RACHEL'S ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH WEEKLY #635 .
. ---January 28, 1999--- .
. HEADLINES: .
. PARKINSON'S .
. ========== .
. THE NEED FOR CIVIC ACTION .
. ========== .
. Environmental Research Foundation .
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